Shrill protests in France as President Emmanuel Macron targets unvaccinated

French President Emmanuel Macron has provoked outcries in parliament and protests from election rivals by using vulgarity to describe his strategy for pressuring vaccine refusers to get coronavirus jabsMacron used the French word emmerder rooted in the French word for crap and meaning to rile or to bug in an interview published by French newspaper Le Parisien on Tuesday nightThe president made the explosive remark as lawmakers are heatedly debating new measures that would allow only the vaccinated to enjoy leisure activities such as eating out The unvaccinated I really want to bug them And so we will continue doing so to the end Thats the strategy Le Parisien quoted the French leader as saying in a sitdown interview at the presidential Elysee Palace with a panel of its readers His use of earthy language more commonly heard at the counters of French cafeacutes further complicated the already difficult passage in parliament of the governments planned new vaccine passLawmakers debated into early Wednesday morning before their discussions were again suspended disrupted by the furore over Macrons remarks The vaccine pass will exclude unvaccinated individuals from places such as restaurants cinemas theatres museums and sports arenas The pass will also be required on interregional trains and buses and on domestic flights Opposition lawmakers protested audibly in the National Assembly chamber as Macrons health minister Olivier Veran sought to defend the presidents choice of wordsVeran said Macrons interview demonstrated his iquestintention above all to protect the populationiquest Critics accused Macron of behaviour unbecoming a president and of targeting the unvaccinated to win support from the 9037 of French adults who are fully vaccinated Opposition lawmaker Seacutebastien Jumel said Macron deliberately chose to add hysteria to the debate Macron is facing reelection in April Farright presidential candidate Marine Le Pen who opposed the vaccine pass proposal said the president wants to wage war against a portion of the FrenchAnother farright candidate Eric Zemmour accused Macron of crueltyOn the far left presidential candidate JeanLuc Melenchon asked Is the president in control of what he says Macrons supporters suggested the president simply expressed out loud what some vaccinated people already think about the nonvaccinated in a country with bitter divides over the issueFrance reported a recordsmashing 271686 daily virus cases Tuesday as omicron infections race across the country burdening hospital staff and threatening to disrupt transportation schools and other services Macrons government is straining to avoid a new economically damaging lockdown that could hurt his reelection prospects Ministers are instead trying to rush the vaccine pass bill through parliament in hopes that it will be enough to keep hospitals from becoming overwhelmedMore than 20000 people are hospitalized with Covid19 in France a number that has been rising steadily for weeks but not as sharply as the countrys infection rates Covid19 patients fill more than 72 per cent of Frances intensive care unit ICU beds and its oncerenowned health care system is again showing signs of strain Most virus patients in ICUs are not vaccinated against the coronavirus though 77 per cent of the French population has had at least two dosesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever